JoeChinni.com

Bill Gates Retirement Party: Ten Reasons Why Vista Isn’t That Bad

I’m going to refute these one by one. Here we go.

1. It’s more secure than Windows XP.
- This might be the only one I’ll give them. They’ve improved on some core security issues. Unfortunately, part of the reason for their lower number of security patches is the low install base (ie hackers are going to focus on XP where the majority of users lie).

2. It’s the best looking Windows yet.
- Yea. It looks sooo awesome. Especially when you have the 8 gigs of RAM needed to see that cool Aero interface. (Anyone who thinks you need as much RAM to run OS X as you do to run Vista is sorely mistaken. I had Tiger running on a G4 Powerbook with 512 megs of RAM. No problem.)

3. Games work just about as well as under XP.
- Well that’s a compelling argument. I should upgrade to something that’s ALMOST as good as what I have. Good call.

4. Vista Media Center is a fantastic DVR.
- So is my TiVo. This is a good example of something 95% of users will never use.

5. The sleep mode works.
- Really? Amazing.

6. Built-in search is better and more useful.
- This is one thing I think they did right. They just had to wait for Apple to do it for them.

7. User Account Control is useful for some people.
- For some people? Who? People who like to be prompted for a password everytime (sometimes twice!) they copy a file or install a plugin? Yea, right. I don’t know anyone who leaves this turned on.

8. Drivers support isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be.
- Yes it is. Oh yes it really is. One must only point to the fact that manufacturers have to make signed drivers for EVERY device they make. NVIDIA, for example, used to make a set of drivers that would work with many different products. This makes driver development less costly and more timely. Vista killed this with their hollywood placating DRM.

9. It’s not any buggier than Windows XP.
- Again, is that supposed to make a compelling argument??

10. Vista is not slow if you have enough RAM.
- Yea and my skateboard isn’t slow if I strap it to a jet engine. Dumbass.

If you know anything about computers this is hilarious.

This is awesome. Sony has been busted using pirated software.

After Sony BMG supplied a pirated license code for Ideal Migration, one of PointDev’s products, the software maker was able to mandate a seizure of Sony BMG’s assets. The subsequent raid revealed that software was illegally installed on four of Sony BMG’s servers.

Sony BMG’s hypocrisy: company busted for using warez

My friend and colleague Mike King has a new blog focusing on the music business. Check out his latest post about the future of radio.

Music Business and Trend-Mongering

This is really too bad and just goes to show how out of touch the industry is with reality. They can’t conceive the idea that more exposure is better in long run. Just like sharing music doesn’t mean the death of the music industry, it just means it’s time to embrace the power of technology instead of fighting it (and ostracizing your customer base in the process).

This doesn’t mean not getting paid, but maybe the era of fat cat music executives is at an end. Hopefully more bands will follow Radiohead’s lead and cut them out all together.

“WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.”
-Orwell “1984″

This is a pretty lengthy document that goes into how Vista’s DRM services essentially drive up cost of hardware by imposing ridiculous guidelines for manufacturers. It forces companies like Nvidia, who have a plethera of hardware offerings, to write separate drivers for every device they make.

As this analysis points out, it’s mind boggling how much control over technical specs are given to content providers, rather than hardware manufacturers or valid technical sources.

Vista includes various requirements for “robustness” in which the content industry, through “hardware robustness rules”, dictates design requirements to hardware manufacturers. The level of control that the content producers have over technical design details is nothing short of amazing.

I love this excerpt:

So if you design a new security system, you can’t get it supported in Windows Vista until well-known computer security experts like MGM, 20th Century-Fox, and Disney give you the go-ahead…

…It’s absolutely astonishing to find paragraphs like this in what are supposed to be Windows technical documents, since it gives Hollywood studios veto rights over Windows security mechanisms.

Link

News Flash:

EMI to offer entire catalog DRM free on iTunes. – LINK

- Q: Now that the link between iTunes/iPod is broken, do you expect a decline in iPod sales?
- A: (Steve) I don’t see a link, because you have always been able to buy music from elsewhere (CD’s) and put it on your iPod. We’re going to keep working to do the best job at what we do, and we are going to hope that consumers agree.

Click on the image to sign an open letter to Steve Jobs asking him to put his money where his mouth is. Down with DRM!

In our preliminary findings, we find that AOL 9.0 (free version) is currently badware because it installs additional software without telling the user, it forces the user to take certain actions, it adds various components to Internet Explorer and the taskbar without disclosure, it may automatically update without the user’s consent, and it fails to uninstall completely.

Stopbadware.org Report

This is my new life mantra.

If a feature is in Windows and no one uses it, is it still a feature?

The review is about how much different Microsoft’s new Vista operating system is going to be from what was originally promised. Gates is slammed pretty hard but I agree. He should have taken a less active role in such big projects.

Comparisons are made to Vista and OS X. It seems Microsoft may have actually stolen ideas from Apple. *gasp*

Review: Where Vista Fails

David Berlind is pissed about DRM and I’m right there with him.

You shouldn’t take any of this to mean that I don’t believe in compensating content copyright holders with whatever royalties they’re due (DRM’s other role is to assure such compensation to some extent). But as long as DRM technology stands in the way of legitimate use of the content that I’ve paid for, I as an informed buyer will vote with my dollars by going elsewhere for my content (for example, sites where the artists offer their music for free). You should too. That’s my Declaration of InDRMpendence. Don’t let this plague spread beyond the epidemic level that it has already reached. Just say no to DRM (stop buying DRM-wrapped content before it’s way too late and oppose any DRM-related laws under consideration by any legislative body).

Read the rest of his rant here

Couldn’t agree more with Winn Schwartau who recently switched his company from Win/Tel to Mac. Here’s what he says the problems are:

Windows is complex, trying to be everything to everyone.

When a new operating system or service pack is released, there are tons of changes to the functionality.

WinTel machines use different versions of BIOS

Some Windows software applications are well written; others take shortcuts.

I’ve always thought Microsoft software tries to be an all purpose tool box when all you need is a screw driver. The other issue, as Winn points out, is the myriad of hardware configurations, not to mention the crappy hardware most manufacturers use somewhere along the line.

“The sheer amount of time I wasted was extraaordinary – to get a WinTel vendor to cop to the fact that HW does break, and all I needed was a HW fix – NOT reinstall XP Pro.”

I feel your pain brotha.

Mad as hell, switching to Mac

Security Awareness Blog

Here’s another cool search tool from Google. Think cell phone.

Google Local

I saw this on boing boing and had to post it.

This is a sweet idea. Harvest the addresses from Craigslist apartment ads and pin them on a Google Map. You can click on a pin and it takes you straight to the ad. Brilliant!

Link (not Safari friendly )

If you have an iPod or are thinking about buying one, this is worth a look.

iPod Lounge Buyers Guide

Great write up comparing 3 rivaling DVR solutions. TiVo, Windows XP MCE (Media Center Edition), and an HD Scientific Atlanta recorder provided by a cable company. The Windows box has some interesting features and is closer to a TiVo than I would’ve guessed. There’s only one problem….it runs Windows .

Ed Bott: TiVo versus MCE versus my cable company

If a burglar triggers the device he is sprayed with the water. It remains invisible to the naked eye but cannot be removed from the clothes or skin for months and glows bright green under a UV torch.

Police can then scour the streets with high-powered UV torches that illuminate suspects and immediately prove a burglar was at the scene of a crime.

Word?

Gene paint | Wood & Vale

This article provides an interesting insight into Google’s recipe for a successful web service provider. Specifically, they use thousands of cheaper PC’s with the expectation that they fail more often, but then write their software to expect this. They also have their own file system (GFS – Google Filesystem) which I was not aware of.

Data is replicated in three places, and there is a “master” machine that can locate copies of a piece of data, such as a keyword index, if the original is out of commission.

Google’s secret of success? | CNET News.com

Awesome article explaining the completely ridiculous business model that is Napster. Even if they had a device like the iPod no one would pay for this shit. 15 bucks a month to rent a music collection. That’s the lamest idea ever. I’m not totally on the iTunes band wagon either, I mean DRM (Digital Rights Management) sucks and the sooner content providers that use DRM are boycotted the better (I can’t say that I’ve boycotted the iTunes Music Store, but I’ve definitely lost interest).

Why Napster will be a fully-integrated flop | The Register

So, Bill Gates’ keynote went pretty well. He was showing off the new Microsoft Media PC and he’s thwarted by my old friend and yours, the Blue Screen of DEATH! If anyone finds a clip of this let me know, I’m too tired to look myself.

Notes on Gates (washingtonpost.com)

I think I could have some fun with this. Unfortunately it’s no longer in production. Not like I got $5,000 burning a hole in my pocket.

:::::: MOOG MUSIC ::::::

“Drives the size of a quarter…”

Hitachi Small Drive to Have Bigger Capacity